Director'c Cut Spoiler...Kinderman's Fate

So in the director's cut, Kinderman still kills Karras (the Legion novel had it ending without violence)...?

The only real proof he has is that Damien Karras was not found in the coffin after it was exhumed

He has proof that Patient X was really Damien Karras all these 15 or so years (only his body in the novel, his body-plus-his own soul in the Morgan Creek version).

This would be proven in the autopsy that would be demanded in the wake of Kinderman shooting a helpless man in a straitjacket. Those who remembered Karras would be called in for identification, "those tedious dental records" would almost surely be found, blood testing if not DNA testing could be performed, anything that the hospital staff recalled of what Patient X said or did would corroborate Kinderman's special knowledge of the Gemini case, as would the testimony of the Vennamun-assaulted Kinderman family - as well as corroborate the seemingly incredible fact that the serial killer had taken over Karras' resuscitated corpse ... and there are all those tedious fingerprints from the patients that Vennamun had possessed, thereby supporting the mass possession theory, plus - if Temple sometimes let Vennamun out, there would also be Vennamun-KARRAS'S OWN fingerprints that would point straight to the man in Cell Eleven, i.e., to the living corpse (now the dead corpse) of Damien Karras. And finally, Kinderman's own impeccable record would speak volumes for his integrity.

These factors, taken together, would probably exonerate Kinderman, There would be a coverup in the hospital, by the police and the media. If you saw the original Kolchak: the Night Stalker pilot, you know what I mean. In this case, the county's vampire turned out to be the reanimated corpse of Damien Karras, and his sinister posthumous legend would be put down as quickly as that of Janos Skorzeny.

Don't want to be a pest, but wanted to check this out. You wrote, he marches into the hospital and kills a patient execution style. As the film unfolds, we see why Kinderman is convinced that Father Karras is possessed by the Gemini killer

SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW





So this scene in the director's cut is basically the same as in the Morgan Creek version? Kinderman shoots Patient X in Cell Eleven?

As mentioned, my prior reply hinges on the two films being essentially the same on this point. In the original Legion novel, there is no exorcism, and the Gemini simply dies when he finds out that his abusive father has died - no need to shoot Patient X. But, so, in the director's cut, the non-violent "weaker" ending is not present, but the violent shooting climax is shown? If so, I wonder why Blatty chose gunfire over the Gemini simply giving up - maybe simply for the sake of a "stronger" drama?

As the film unfolds, we see why Kinderman is convinced that Father Karras is possessed by the Gemini killer.

Important point I don't want to miss. If I understand correctly, since the director's cut does not feature the personality of Karras, but only his resuscitated corpse inhabited by the Gemini, then it is doubtful that the director's cut would say or imply that Kinderman thinks that KARRAS HIMSELF is present - and possessed - by the Gemini. If the director's cut conforms to the original Legion story, there is no possession of Karras, but merely the reanimation of his corpse by the Gemini and "Pazuzu". As Merrin said before, "There is only one" - the Gemini, and nobody gets possessed, except for the "old friends" that the Gemini himself temporarily possesses.

Can you please clear these questions up for me?